


holding hands

by doubleA1024



Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Hollstein - Fandom
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-09-09
Packaged: 2018-04-18 21:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4721495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doubleA1024/pseuds/doubleA1024
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I saw this prompt on tumblr about your OTP holding hands because one of them is too short and gets lost in a crowd, so I decided to write this With Laura and Carmilla.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It started out as a joke. Lafontaine walked into Laura and Carmilla’s dorm on a Friday night, holding a flyer for some local band they knew, that had a show in the quad later that night.  
An hour later Laura found herself trailing behind Laf and Carmilla as they weaved in and out of the crowd of students waiting for the band to start playing.  
There were a lot more students there than she had been expecting when she agreed to come along, not that she particularly minded crowds, but being as short as she was she had a tendency to get lost in them. So when she bounced off a tall frat boy who hadn’t seen her behind him, and then looked back up to find Carmilla and Laf nowhere near her, she wasn’t exactly surprised.

Carmilla and Laf were almost at the front of the stage when Carmilla noticed the absence of her miniscule roommate.

“Hey Laf, do you see Laura anywhere?” Carmilla asked.

“I thought she was walking right behind you, is she not there?” Laf replied without turning around.

“No she’s totally there, I just thought this would be a riveting conversation topic” Carmilla drawled out.

Laf turned around, Carmilla’s tone catching their attention.

“No need to worry, she probably just got distracted by a snack bar or something.”

“I’m not worried, I was just alerting you to the fact that your friend, the shortest human being ever, is no longer with us.” Carmilla snapped.

Laf looked around themselves for a second and realized just how large the crowd of rowdy college kids really was.

“Um, you know what, I think I’ll just go and see if I can find her. Wouldn’t want her to miss the beginning of the show or anything.” They flashed a nervous smile, and  
began looking around trying to decide which direction to head off in.

Before they made a decision Laura stumbled into the small little clearing they had been occupying with Carmilla.  
She threw her arms up with an indignant huff.

“God, does this school have a special scholarship for the unnaturally tall?”

Laf smiled over at Laura relieved that she found them; Carmilla snorted at her comment, but didn’t say anything, seemingly unaffected by the return of her roommate.

Besides the initial hiccup of getting lost, Laura was having a great time. The band wasn’t exactly the kind of music that she generally listened to, but the beats were catchy and Laf had gotten them spots right next to the stage, so she had a mostly unobstructed view, which was very rare for her.  
As much fun as she was having, she knew she still had to finish her Lit paper that was due the next morning.

She leaned over and tapped Lafontaine’s shoulder to get their attention.

“Hey I’m gonna go, I still have to finish my Lit paper. Thanks for inviting me though this was really fun.”

Laf nodded in acknowledgement, “Okay, want be to walk back with you?”

Before Laura could answer Carmilla leaned in from the other side, “Are you heading back to the room cupcake? I’ve had my fill of drunken children screaming.”  
Laura laughed, “Yeah, lets go. But don’t pretend like you weren’t enjoying yourself, I saw you trying not to dance at a few songs.”

Carmilla just rolled her eyes in response, and stepped back, motioning for Laura to start walking.

“Bye Laf”

“Bye. Hey vamp, you better hold onto to her so you don’t lose her again.” Laf called over their shoulder.

Laura pouted at their words and turned away marching determinedly through the crowd.  
She made it about ten steps before she realized that she had no clue which way she was supposed to be heading. She couldn’t see anything but people around her.  
She felt somebody grab her hand and tug her towards her right. She looked at the hand wrapped around hers, and followed it up a pale arm to the smug face of her roommate.

Carmilla smirked over at her and then continued to walk; heading to what Laura could only hope was the path back to their dorm.  
When they finally broke free of the crowd they both took a deep breath, breathing in fresh air instead of sweat and cheap beer.  
They continued walking towards their shared room. Laura cleared her throat to get Carmilla’s attention, and then sheepishly looked at the ground once she had it.

“Thanks for pulling me out of there” she mumbled, eyes refusing to focus on anything but the ground.

“Don’t mention it Cupcake” Carmilla responded wearing what Laura could only assume was a smug smile.

They reached the entrance to their building a few seconds later, and as Laura made to reach for the door she became aware of the fact that she was still holding Carmilla’s hand.  
She quickly detangled her fingers from the other girls, and opened the door. She held it open for Carmilla to enter first before rushing inside herself.  
Neither one of them said anything else as they made their way up the stairs.

 

Two days later Laura was walking out of her journalism lecture. It was 4:30 in the afternoon, and she was really regretting skipping lunch in an attempt to finish her homework earlier.  
She walked into her dorm room and saw Carmilla in her usual spot on her bed reading.

“Hey, how was your lecture?” Carmilla didn’t look up from her book as she greeted Laura.

“It was fine. But really long, and I’m starving. Wanna go get some food from the dining hall, I’m pretty sure it’s pizza day?”

“Can’t you just go with Laf or Xena?” Carmilla replied, still not taking her eyes off her book.

“That’s a great idea. I’ll text them and see if they want to join us.” Laura replied happily.

Carmilla just sighed and sat her book down. She knew there was no point in arguing with Laura, and she could go for some pizza anyways.

“Laf and Perry are going to meet us there in 5. Danny said she was there with the summers and she just left, but it was getting kinda busy so we should hurry down there.”

“Lead the way, Cupcake” Carmilla replied as she slipped on her jacket and held the door open for Laura to exit.

They arrived at the dining hall a few minutes later, and it was even busier than Laura had been expecting.

“I guess we weren’t the only ones who wanted pizza.” She grumbled under her breath.

Carmilla chuckled at her pouting face as they walked to the end of an admittedly long line.

After they finally got their food they began to look around for Laf and Perry, who were already seated somewhere according to the text Laura had received.  
Laura stood on her tiptoes, trying in vain to see over the students all around her.  
After a few seconds Carmilla spotted the ginger twins, and called out to Laura. Laura was a few steps away facing the opposite direction, and clearly could not hear her over the noises of students everywhere eating and talking.  
Carmilla mumbled to herself about not even wanting to come here in the first place, as she walked over to Laura and grabbed her hand.  
Laura seemed startled at the sudden contact, but relaxed instantly when she met Carmilla’s eyes.  
Carmilla just rolled her eyes and pulled Laura over to the table she had spotted Laf and Perry at earlier.

“Got your own personal guide to help you through all the big bad crowds there frosh?”  
Laf said with a smug smile on their face, gesturing and their interlocked hands as they arrived at the table.

“Don’t be rude Lafontaine” Perry admonished as both Laura and Carmilla quickly let go of each others hands, and sat down.

“I can figure out where I’m going just fine Laf. Besides, Carm’s only like an inch taller than me.”

“Yeah but she just has a much more imposing presence. You never see her getting lost do you? I saw her saving your ass in the crowd the other night.” Laf fired right back.

Laura just huffed and took a bite of her pizza, while Carmilla looked on in amusement. Raising an eyebrow in response to the look Laura throws her way.

 

After that it just kind of becomes a thing. Whenever Carmilla and Laura go anywhere together, Carmilla takes the lead and Laura holds on tight.  
She doesn’t really give it much thought; they end up at a crowded Zeta party the next night and when she wants a drink Carm leads her over to the bar because she wants a drink as well.  
It becomes such a regular occurrence that Laura doesn’t even need to look up when she feels someone grab her hand. Carmilla’s hand in hers just feels natural and familiar.

Laura doesn’t realize just how much time she spends holding Carmilla’s hand until one day she runs into Danny as she’s walking into a coffee shop.  
Carmilla roles her eyes in greeting and goes over to the counter to order their drinks while Laura stops to say hi to Danny.

“Hey Danny, how’s it going. I feel like I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

“Yeah sorry, I’ve been really busy with my classes and the summers recently.”

“It’s cool I get it. So what’s up? Anything interesting happen recently?”

“Clearly nothing as interesting as you, when did you and Fang-face over there become a thing?”

Laura looks up at her in confusion. “What do you mean, we’re not a ‘thing’ just getting some coffee, as friends that’s all.”

Danny gives her a disbelieving look.

“Uh-huh, because ‘friends’ always hold hands as they walk around campus.”

“What? Oh, that. That just sort of happened because I kept getting lost in crowds of students when we went places.”

Danny gestures to the basically empty courtyard behind them.

“Oh yeah, I can see how you might have gotten lost out there.”

“It, it’s not like that Danny I swear.”

“Okay, okay. Whatever you say Laura” Danny says with a smug smile as Carmilla walks up to them holding two cups.

She hands Laura the cup of hot-chocolate and without so much as a glance in Danny’s direction she grabs Laura’s hand and begins to pull her out of the coffee shop.

“Come on Cupcake you can talk to the giant later, we are going to be late.”

Laura blushes as she realizes this is not helping her case with Danny. She glances over her shoulder and sheepishly waves goodbye as Danny just stands there smugly eyebrows raised in a challenge.

 

As they are walking back to their dorm Laura can’t help but to glance at their intertwined hands.  
‘When had this become a normal thing? How did she not even notice they were doing it? Now that she’s aware of it, why can’t she bring herself to pull her hand away?’

Carmilla notices her uncharacteristic silence and looks over to see Laura’s face (adorably) scrunched up it what is quite clearly confusion.

“Something wrong creampuff?” She questions.

“Oh, nothing just thinking.”

“I can see that. Thinking about what?”

“Since when do you care if we’re going to be late to Perry’s floor party? I had to bribe you to go to this thing with coffee, which I’ll totally pay you for by the way.” Laura asks suddenly.

“Oh, um I don’t. I just didn’t want to stick around and chat with Clifford. And it’s fine don’t worry about it.”  
Laura nods silently and goes back to staring at their hands, Carmilla just shrugs to herself and continues walking.

When they get to the common room where Laf and Perry are waiting, with a few other students from their floor whose names Laura really needs to learn.  
She waves at Laf and Perry as they walk in and Laf walks over to them.

Carmilla releases her hand and makes a beeline for the snack table in the back.

“Hey Frosh, glad you and the Vamp could make it, Perry was beginning to worry.”

Laura was fully expecting Laf to make fun of her for holding Carmilla’s hand, and she just stares at them puzzled when they don’t.  
She tries to shrug it off and enjoy herself, deciding to join Carm at the table that she’s pretty sure contains cookies.

 

An hour later as they are making their way back to their dorm room, hands interlocked, Laura is still thinking about it.  
How often has it happened in the last few weeks? It’s apparently common enough to that it doesn’t even warrant a response from Laf.

When they get back to their room and separate to do whatever it is they do (lay on their respective beds) Carmilla finally speaks up.

“Seriously Cupcake what’s up? You haven’t said anything since we went to the coffee shop. Did Danny say something to you?”

Laura stays quiet for a few seconds, and Carmilla is about to ask again, when she finally speaks up.

“Why do you keep holding my hand?” Laura’s looking down at her own hand as she asks.

“I don’t know… I didn’t realize it was bothering you.”

Carmilla is looking down at her hands as well.

“No. it doesn’t…. it doesn’t bother me. I think I like it….but I don’t think I knew just how much I liked it until Danny pointed it out to me earlier.”

“Oh” Carmilla looks up and notices that Laura is still staring at her own hands in her lap.

“I just, I don’t understand when this all happened, and now I’m scared that you’re gonna stop which you probably are now that I brought it up. This was dumb I’m sorry,  
its just you asked and I didn’t know what else to say and…..”

she trails off as she feels Carmilla grab her hand, and sit down next to her on the bed.

She smiles over at her and Carmilla begins to gently stroke her thumb across the back of her hand.

“I’m not going to stop. I like it too”

They sit there for awhile just looking at each other, hands linked together. At some point one of them decides they should watch a movie on Laura’s computer, and they stay there for the rest of the night.

 

The next day when they leave the room, Laura consciously reaches over for Carmilla’s hand and she is fully aware of the warm feeling that spreads through her when their fingers interlock.


	2. Chapter 2

Laura sat at her desk, furiously typing on her keyboard. She had spent two hours typing up her lit paper and thanks to a stupid computer glitch it had all been deleted. Now she was attempting to re-write it, but she couldn’t quite remember the exact points she had been making.

Carmilla peered over her book ever once and awhile, glancing at Laura’s increasingly annoyed face from her spot on her bed. After about twenty minutes she began to hear typing that sounded more like Laura was punching the keys.

“You doing alright over there Cupcake?” Carmilla asked, a slight smile in her voice. She couldn’t help but be amused at Laura’s antics; she was cute when she was frustrated.

“Lovely” Laura replied with a huff.

“Really? Because I’m pretty sure I heard the space bar cry out in pain earlier.”

“The stupid space bar deserved it for deleting my paper.”

“I don’t think it was the space bar’s fault. Come on”

Carmilla stood and walked over to Laura’s desk, holding out her hand for the other girl to take.

Laura grabbed it and stood up with a question clearly written across her face.

“We’re just going to go for a walk. Clear your head a bit, and maybe check out the stars.”

Carmilla smiled softly at Laura, who returned the smile and then happily began walking out of their room.

They made it down the stairs and out of the building in a comfortable silence, but they only made it halfway across the courtyard before a voice called out to them shattering the quiet.

“Hey Laura, Carmilla. What’s up guys?” Kirsch yelled from the other side of the courtyard.

Laura raised the hand that wasn’t holding Carmilla’s and waved in greeting.

A few steps ahead of Kirsch, Laura noticed Danny turn around and yell something at Kirsch about hurrying up or she wouldn’t have time to help him study. It was then that Danny noticed Laura and Carmilla; she stopped and waved giving Laura a pointed look before turning around and walking off, dragging Kirsch with her.

Carmilla turned to Laura, eyebrow raised in a question at the odd encounter, but Laura just shrugged with a small smile on her face.

Carmilla dropped it and turned to continue walking, she knew the perfect place for Laura to clear her head.

A few minutes later they were sitting on top of the Biology building. The roof was perfect for star gazing, so Carmilla was very familiar with it.

They both sat down on the ledge, their hands still locked together, just silently sitting.

After about ten minutes Carmilla turned to look at Laura; she didn’t want to be that person, but she really just wanted to know.

“Whatever happened with you and Danny?”

Laura looked a little surprised at the question, “What do you mean?”

“I don’t mean to pry, but I know you guys used to have a thing or whatever, and now you don’t, you guys still seem pretty cool with each other but you never really mentioned what happened.”

“It just wasn’t meant to be anything more than friendship I guess.”

“Okay” Carmilla seemed satisfied with the response, but her question made Laura start thinking once again about Danny and why she just couldn’t seem to bring herself to love the girl who had so clearly at the time been in love with her.

Laura sat quietly for a while thinking it over, and then she just started talking, hoping that the thoughts would make more sense if she said them out loud.

“It’s like…. I don’t really know how to explain this,” She started and Carmilla turned giving the short girl her full attention.

“I think people have two different sides to themselves. There’s the public persona that they portray, and then there’s the private persona that you never let anyone else see. And it’s not like the private persona is who you really are; the person you are in front of everyone else is a big part of your personality as well. It’s just the part of yourself that you choose to let other people see, almost like picking parts of yourself to share with the world; but I believe that everyone has a part of themselves that they choose to keep hidden, subconsciously or not, there’s always something even if it’s just one tiny little quirk, that you keep for yourself. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing you know, having that little thing all to yourself can keep you sane sometimes.  
But I believe you will know when you have truly fallen in love with another person, because you will be able to share that other side of yourself with them. I mean think about it, have you ever been in a relationship where you really liked the person, but there were just some things that you couldn’t talk about with them, some thoughts or opinions that you never had the courage to voice out loud to anyone.  
I think we all have those, and when you finally find the right person, one day you’ll have a conversation and you might not even realize it while it’s happening; but after you stop talking you’ll realize that you just effortlessly brought up this part of yourself that you’ve been so afraid to show to anyone else. This one person made you feel so safe and comfortable that you were able to share thoughts that have never actually left your head before.  
That’s what I think love really is, and that’s how I know I didn’t love her, because I was never able to share everything with her. I always felt like I had to hide something I was doing, or something I felt, because she wouldn’t have approved. I mean she was great and all, but it just isn’t what I need.”

Laura goes quiet for a second before nervously laughing

“Or you know maybe I’m just really over-thinking things, this lit paper is really messing with my head.”

Carmilla squeezed her hand softly, halting her nervous rambling.

“I know exactly what you mean cupcake.”

Laura smiled over at her, and they spent a moment staring at each other, before turning back to the stars.

 

Laura squealed excitedly as she threw open the door to her room and ran inside, throwing all of her stuff haphazardly on her bed.

“Hey there Creampuff, what’s up? Did they just announce a special addition Doctor Who episode with thirty seconds of unseen footage?”

Laura stuck her tongue out in a joking taunt.

“No, but I did get an A on that lit paper I had to write last week.”

Her smile was so wide and genuine that Carmilla couldn’t help but smile back.

“Congrats Cupcake.”

“Thanks, and thank you for helping me clear my head when I got frustrated, this paper would have been awful if you hadn’t stepped in and helped out.”

“You’re welcome, even though I only did it because your insufferable groaning and pouting was making it impossible to read my book.”

“Whatever. We both know you did it to help me because you’re a big old softie Carm. But don’t worry I’ll keep pretending like you’re all big and bad in front of Laf and Danny.”

Laura finished off the sentence with her best Carmilla impression and then threw a wink over her shoulder as she walked into their bathroom.

Carmilla couldn’t help but laugh at her ridiculous roommate. She still had a goofy smile on her face when Laura remerged from the bathroom, and she didn’t even attempt to hide it.

“So Cupcake, what do you want to do to celebrate your achievement.”

“Well the Zetas are having a huge party tonight…”  
Carmilla had to use every ounce of will power she had in order to refrain from rolling her eyes.

“…So I was thinking we could get some food and have a Doctor Who marathon in our room.” Laura finished with a smile.

Carmilla laughed at the evil grin on Laura’s face.

“Deal cutie.

 

Carmilla returned twenty minutes later with take-out from the burger place just off campus, and found Laura in pajama pants and a tank top, sitting on her bed with her laptop resting beside her.  
Laura smiles at Carmilla when she walks in, and picks up the laptop so that Carmilla can sit down next to her.

“Alright Creampuff, lets see why your so obsessed with this show. Which episode are we watching first?”

Laura smiles and hits play as Carmilla hands her a burger, “It’s called Blink”

A few hours and several episodes later found the two of them still on Laura’s bed, but the laptop had been shifted to the side as Laura snuggled up into Carmilla. Carmilla was pretty sure that Laura had fallen asleep somewhere near the end of the third episode but she didn’t mind.

She was comfortable sitting there, with Laura curled into her side.  
There was a particularly loud crash in the show, that Carmilla had admittedly stopped paying attention to the moment Laura’s head had hit her shoulder, and the noise caused Laura to start stirring lightly.

Carmilla was trying to work her arm out from under Laura in an attempt to shut the laptop, when their door was loudly thrown open, causing Laura to wake with a start and send both of them tumbling onto the floor.

“Laura, you’re missing out on a great party. What are you doing in here?” Laf yelled from the doorway, clearly intoxicated.

They looked down and spotted both girls lying awkwardly on the floor.

“Watcha doin down there?” They asked with a slur

“We fell over” Carmilla growled

“Watcha fell over for?” They asked with a grin

“We didn’t do it on purpose, we”

Before Carmilla could finish her sentence, with something no doubt both witty and threatening, Laura burst out in laughter.

“Oh man, do you guys even realize you’re totally quoting Harry Potter right now.”

“Cupcake, how are you even coherent enough to make that connection, thirty seconds ago you were drooling on my shoulder.”

“I wasn’t drooling” Laura squeaks and smacks Carmilla’s shoulder lightly.

“Lafontaine sweetie, there you are. I told you not to bother Laura. You need to go to sleep.” Perry says as she appears in the doorway next to Laf.

“Sorry guys. I’ll take them back to their room.” Perry added turning to Laura.

“Yeah sorry for ruining your moment with your vampire girlfriend frosh” Laf adds, as they are lead away from the room by Perry.

“She’s not my girl…. Ugh never mind, they probably wont remember this in the morning anyway.” Laura sighed

“Uh that’s great and all cupcake, but do you think maybe you can get off me now.”

Laura looked down; she was lying almost completely on top of Carmilla. Had this happened a few weeks ago she would have blushed profusely and jumped off the other girl as quickly as possible; but now she was a lot more comfortable with Carmilla, so she shook her head no. She was tired after her abrupt wake-up and Carmilla was comfortable, so she shuffled down a little and buried her head into Carmilla’s shoulder.

“I don’t think I can do that sorry.” Laura mumbled against Carmilla’s neck.

Carmilla inhaled sharply. “Didn’t quite catch that cutie, wanna try again.”

Laura picked her head up and looked Carmilla in the eyes.

“I’m too comfy to move.” She said, never taking her eyes off Carmilla’s.

“Well I guess were going to be here for a while then. What could we possibly do to pass the time?” Carmilla mused and her eyes drifting down to Laura’s lips before coming back up to meet her gaze.

Laura’s breath hitched as she leaned down a fraction closer to Carmilla, her eyes flittering down to Carmilla’s lips and back up again.

Carmilla’s eyes flashed with mischief and then suddenly Laura hit the floor, as Carmilla appeared on top of her own bed in a puff of black smoke.

“Ow. Was that really necessary Carm?” Laura grumbled as she begrudgingly stood up.

“Completely. Trust me cupcake, I spent the night on that floor before, and it is not comfortable.”

“But I was comfy. You make a good pillow, and I need one seeing as you always steal mine.”

“I never said you couldn’t use me as a pillow sweetheart, I’d just prefer if you did it whilst I was lying somewhere a little more comfortable.” Carmilla lifts the quilt on her bed slightly, motioning for Laura to join her.

Laura happily scrambles into the other girls bed and immediately settles onto her side, leaning against Carmilla.

“Night Carm” Laura says mid yawn.

Carmilla smiles and wraps her arm around the small girl, finding her hand and interlacing their fingers. “Goodnight Laura” she whispers as Laura’s eyes flutter closed.

 

Laura wakes up the next morning and groans as the sunlight hits her face. It’s weird because she normally doesn’t have to worry about the sunlight in the morning.  
She rolls over to check the time and falls right out of the bed.

“What the…” she looks up when she hears muffled laughter, and realizes that she had been in Carmilla’s bed not her own, which is why the sun woke her up.

“Wow cupcake, you sure are spending a lot of time with that floor lately. Should I leave you guys alone or something?”

“Shut up Carm” Laura mumbles as she stands up, rubbing the spot on her back where she landed.

“I forgot I fell asleep on your bed last night.”

“Smooth Hollis.” Carmilla chuckles.

“Oh shut it Carm. It’s not that funny”

“Oh creampuff I beg to differ, now come on get dressed we have plans”

Carmilla tosses a shirt towards Laura, who catches it in surprise.

“Plans, it’s way to early Carm.”

“Check again sweet heart. Its almost 2, you must have been really tired last night.”

“Oh my gosh Carm, why didn’t you wake me up earlier?”

“You looked so peaceful, and I thought you could use the sleep you’ve been pretty stressed out lately. Now come on get dressed, I’ll meet you in the hall when you’re done.”

Carmilla turned and walked out of the room before Laura could respond. Laura stared at the door in shock for a few seconds before shaking her head, and then she starts to change.

She emerges from the room a few minutes later to find Carmilla leaning against the wall.

“Great. Lets go sweet heart”

She turns and starts heading down the hall, leaving Laura no choice but to follow.  
Laura follows her down the hall and out the building, but Carmilla doesn’t stop she just keeps walking across the campus, past buildings Laura has never been inside.

She finally stops in front of a building that Laura doesn’t recognize. She stands in front of the door waiting for Laura to catch up, and when she does she reaches over and grabs her hand.

As soon as their hands lock Carmilla opens the door and heads inside. She turns down hallway after hallway with practiced ease, and Laura walks alongside her in silence.

Carmilla finally stops in front of a door, and as she reaches for the doorknob her hand shakes. Laura reaches over with her free hand and covers Carmilla’s, stopping it from shaking and guiding it to the doorknob.

When the door swings open Carmilla takes a deep breath, and then steps inside. The light turns on and Laura looks around. The room is filled with shelves of old books and records. There was a couch against one wall and a desk covered in what looked like old newspapers, and a weird looking black box with what looked like a faded picture of a cat on it.

Laura lets go of Carmilla’s hand and walks over to one of the shelves, glancing at the books.

“What is all of this?” She asks, running her finger across a stack of very old looking records.

“This is where I used to go at nights. I’ve been running to this room to hide since the vey first time I was brought to Silas. This is where I go to escape, when I can’t leave.”

Carmilla makes her way to the couch and sits down while Laura continues to look at the shelves.

Laura joins Carmilla on the couch a few minutes later.

“Why did you decide to bring me here?” She asks quietly

“I haven’t felt the need to come here in a while, and it’s because of you. I feel more at home in our dorm than in this room that I’ve had for hundreds of years. This was the only way that I could think of to show you; I’ve spent years keeping secrets, from my mom, from the girls she wanted me to take, from Ell. All I’ve done since the day I died was keep secrets, but I don’t want to do that anymore, I want you to know who I really am.”

Laura grabs Carmilla’s hand and holds it in her own, staring at the other girl who for the first time looks as old as she actually is.

“Thank you Carm, but this stuff, this room isn’t who you are. The choices you’ve made that’s who you are. The girl that stays up late to protect me from bad dreams, and threatens drunk frat guys who hit on me, the girl who helped Laf with their experiment while denying the entire time that they were actually helping, my roommate who makes me laugh and smile and feel protected. The girl that gets cranky when she needs blood, but is to lazy to go and get any. The girl that loves music but never talks about it to anyone else, the girl that is an amazing dancer. The girl that cares so much but is afraid to let anyone know that she does. That’s who you are, that’s the person that I am so grateful I get to know. “

Carmilla stares at Laura, vulnerability written all over her face. She doesn’t know what to say in response, she can’t think of the words to express how she is feeling right now.

So she does the only other thing she can think of, she pulls Laura closer to her by their still interlocked hands and slowly leans in, giving Laura plenty of time to stop her.

When Laura doesn’t stop her but instead begins to close the distance herself, Carmilla lets go of her hand and places her hand onto Laura’s cheek instead as their lips meet softly.

Laura isn’t sure how long they stay like that, huddled close together on the couch, lips lightly pressing together, but she knows it will never be long enough.

When they finally break apart Carmilla’s hand immediately returns to holding her own, and Laura is comforted by the familiar weight.

A few weeks ago she thought nothing would make her feel safer than Carm’s hand in hers, but she might have just found the one thing that’s better.

“So are you going to explain the super weird box in the corner over there or what? Cause I’m really hoping that it’s cat toys, just saying.” Laura asks a few moments later, breaking the silence.

Carmilla laughs, “Way to ruin the moment Cupcake.”


End file.
